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Colt the Armadillo
Issue #5
by Tom Zjaba
With the news about why he was brought to the future, Colt joined the
underground revolution to save the armadillo race. But with the odds against
them, he knew it would be tough to be able to overthrow Augustus Romulus and get
back to the past to save Peggy Sue. But with no other option, he decided to give
it his all.
While the armadillos were planning their next move, the Eliminator was already
making his. Being a cyborg, he is already programmed with a tracking sensor to
find Peggy Sue or any humanoid armadillo for that matter. Being as she was the
only other humanoid armadillo in the world, it was easy for the Eliminator to
find her. He rode on horseback towards the a small town. It was a town that was
the next destination for the traveling show that Peggy Sue was a part of. The
owner was once again putting his large wrestler up against the local men and
taking all their money. People were also lining up to see his freak show that
featured a mummy, some dragon bones (dinosaur bones), a unicorn (horse with horn
glued on) and the human armadillo (Peggy Sue). With all the excitement going on,
no one notices the Eliminator as he rides into town. He walks into the crowd and
as he does, people begin to notice the oddly dressed man who is very large. As
he makes his way over towards Peggy Sue's cage, the owner notices him and calls
him over. "Hey big guy, want to see if you can beat my champion?" The Eliminator
turns around and looks towards them. He then turns back and begins to walk over
towards Peggy Sue's cage, where she is laying there crying. She has been crying
ever since Colt disappeared. The Eliminator walks up to the cage and looks in.
As he stares at Peggy Sue, his one eye does a scan of the body. To people, his
eye just appears to turn red, but inside his computer brain, it is confirmed
that this is the target. As soon as it is done, he grabs the steel bars and
pulls them out. A loud crash is heard as the wood splinters. Peggy Sue looks up
and screams as he reaches in for her. Before he has a chance, the wrestler plows
into the Eliminator and with the element of surprise, knocks him over. As this
happens, Peggy Sue jumps from the cage and runs off. She does not understand any
of this, but she knows her life is in danger and that is enough to get her to
move. It is pure instinct taking over. On the ground, the wrestler and the
Eliminator are fighting. The Eliminator throws the wrestler off him and gets
ups. The wrestler moves in and goes to grab the Eliminator. But this time he is
ready and instead his fast, machine reflexes grab the wrestler's hands and he
holds him in place. As the wrestler tries to break free, the Eliminator smiles
as he smashes his hands, breaking all the bones. This forces the wrestler to his
knees where the Eliminator then grabs his neck and snaps it, instantly killing
him. His lifeless body falls to the ground and the crowd is stunned. Who is this
man who not only bested the great wrestler, but did it with ease. And what's
worse is he killed him in cold blood. Before they have a chance to react,
bullets ring out as the show owner shoots the Eliminator in the side twice. But
the bullets do not penetrate his skin, instead they bounce off, barely missing
the crowd as they fly off into a building. The Eliminator turns and faces the
owner who has a look of fear on his face. He walks towards the older gentleman
and the owner screams.
Back in the future, Colt and the other armadillos begin to plot. The leader of
the armadillos, Menek, shows a blueprint of the throne room. "We need to get
into there and get to this room. In here is the teleporter to the past. It
should already be programmed to your time period, but if not, we have the
coordinates. We will have to get you on that teleporter and send you back. Then
we will blow it up to stop Augustus from sending anyone after you." Colt looks
at him and says "That is all fine, but what about the Eliminator? What is it and
what do I do with it?" Menek looks at Colt and says "He is a cyborg, which is a
man that is a machine. You will have to destroy him yourself and hope that you
get there before Peggy Sue is eliminated." Colt looks with a surprised look "A
machine man? What is that and how do I stop it?" Menek pauses as if to think how
to explain this to someone from the past. He has to remember that Colt comes
from a past before computers. After he thought about it, he responds "He will
look like a normal human, but he does not bleed like a human. He cannot die from
being shot or stabbed. You will have to find a different way to destroy him and
you will not have us to help you." Colt hangs him head and says "So we have to
break into a heavily guarded palace and send me to the past to kill machine that
cannot die from guns by myself?" Menek looks at him and says "I know it sounds
impossible, but it is the only chance we have."
Later that night, Colt is sitting outside looking up at the moon. He mumbles to
himself "At least the moon is still the same." He has a worried look on his face
as he knows that the chances of succeeding are slim at best. While he sits and
stares at the moon, Kevin McCaw comes over and sits next to him. Colt looks over
at Kevin with a worried look on his face and then looks back at the moon. They
both sit for a few minutes and then Colt says "Did man ever get to the moon?"
Kevin laughs a bit and then replies "They did that centuries ago." Colt ponders
the statement for a few minutes and says "What did they find?" Kevin laughs
again as he says "A race of moon men who were planning an invasion of Earth."
Colt's eyes grow big as he says "What did they look like? What kind of shootin
irons did they have?" Kevin breaks out laughing. Colt then yells "What's so
funny?" Once he quits laughing he says "I was teasing you. They found nothing
but rocks up there." Colt punches him in the arm. Kevin rubs his arm and says
back in an angry voice "That hurt! Why did you hit me?" Colt smiled and said "I
was teasing you."
The next morning, Colt is awoken by the Menek. He looks Colt in the eyes and
says "We have no time to waste, Nero is headed here with lots of
reinforcements." Colt is shocked out of sleep as he grabs his guns and gets
ready for the big day. Before Colt can ask any questions, he is rushed out the
door and down into a tunnel. All the armadillos are there as is Kevin McCaw and
the Sledgehammer. Once they are all there, they rush down the tunnel as they
hear sounds of explosions behind them. Up above, Nero and thirty other men on
motorcycles are riding up to the caves where the armadillos lived. As they pull
up to it, Nero says to the man to his right "No one gets out alive." They then
begin to shoot missiles into the caves, destroying everything the armadillos
left behind. Splinters of wood, metal and glass fly around the cave as the
explosions rip through everything in their path. After a half dozen missiles are
shot, the smoke begins to clear and in the place of the cave entrances is
instead piles of rock and rubble as the mountain itself collapsed under the
assault, filling in the caves and crushing everything inside them.
As the armadillos rush down the tunnel, they hear the explosions and see the
tunnels behind them collapsing. This only quickens their pace as they fear that
the roof over their heads may collapse at any minute, killing them instantly. As
they run through the darkness, they see a light up ahead. As they get closer,
the light grows stronger and stronger. Soon, they find themselves in a room that
is well lit. It is a large cavern with torches on the walls. As they move into
the cavern, they see the tunnel behind them collapse and fill in. They know
there is no going back now. They all stop to catch their breath. As Colt looks
around, he sees a dozen armadillos in the room, along with himself and his two
newly found friends. He wonders if this is enough to complete the mission. He
sees that all the armadillos are well armed and have looks of determination on
their faces, but as he just saw, the odds are stacked against them. Nero and his
men obliterated their hideout in minutes. And this is just one small part of the
resources that Augustus Romulus has at his disposal.
After ten minutes of resting, Menek speaks up "From here we are going to split
up. I want one group heading into the city to create a diversion and the other
will accompany Colt to the palace." One of the armadillos speaks up "What kind
of diversion are we talking about?" Menek smiles and points at a tunnel going
off from the main cavern. "Down that tunnel are vehicles that are armed with
explosives. We need you to head into town and blow up as many things as you can.
We want Augustus sending all his guards there." The armadillos all smile. While
they are not naturally destructive, the thought of causing problems for Augustus
is reason enough to smile. He then turns to Colt and says "With most of the
guards gone, it should be easy for you to sneak in. I am sending you with only
two of my men and Sledgehammer." Colt nods in agreement. He is not sure if that
is enough, but he will trust Menek. Kevin then speaks up and says "Where does
that leave me?" Menek turns to him and says "You can go with us to blow things
up or you can go free. This is not your battle." Kevin looks at Colt and then
says "I guess this is the end of the road. Good luck with the past." Colt offers
his hand to Kevin and says "For a bird, you're all right." They shake hands and
then Kevin turns and says "Let's go blow something up!" With that, the two
groups split up. One heads down a tunnel to the vehicles and the other heads
down a different tunnel, towards the palace.
A few hours later, Colt and the rest of the armadillos are standing under a
tunnel leading up. There is a faint light coming down the tunnel. There is a
ladder leading up the tunnel and one by one, they ascend the ladder. At the top
of tunnel, is a door that appears to be locked. The first armadillo pulls out a
key and opens the lock and proceeds to open the door. As he pushes the door
open, he is in a cramped room. He looks over at the rug that is crumpled up next
to the door. It obviously was over the trap door to hide it from view. He
quietly looks around the room, making sure it is empty. They have a person on
the inside that is aiding them and was supposed to make sure the room is empty
today. They were also supposed to make sure there was nothing covering the door,
except for the rug, so they could easily enter the room. One by one, they all
enter the room. As they all look around, they see that they are in one of the
storage rooms. This one has boxes of books, manuscripts and other items that
were confiscated by Augustus Romulus. He took great pains to control everything
the people would read, listen to and watch. But even with a tight grip on the
people, stuff still slipped through. From pamphlets urging people to revolt to
books that told of the old world, one that was full of freedom for the people,
stuff would be discovered and the person possessing it would be killed. But
today they are not here for the literature, instead they are here to send Colt
back.
Once they are sure that they are safe, they pull out a map of the palace and
determine the best way to get to the time machine. One of the armadillos speaks
up "We only have to go down this hallway and into this room. There will be
guards, but the way should be lightly guarded." They all look at the map and
Colt speaks up "Shouldn't we wait for the others to start?" The armadillo thinks
for a second "It may be best to move now before things get chaotic." Colt looks
at him and says "But then why did we split into two teams?" He does not answer,
instead he steps back and pulls a gadget out of his pocket. The gadget looks
like a garage door opener with one large button on it. He hits the button and
lights start flashing in the room and sirens could be heard. The rest of the
group is stunned by the lights and sounds and before they can react, guards
start pouring in the door. The armadillo runs off and is greeted by the guards
as he points to them. The other armadillo yells to him "Why did you betray the
cause?" The armadillo laughed as he said "Augustus made me a better offer. I was
sick of living in holes and eating scraps." Colt then pulls out his guns and
shoots the armadillo. He tries to move but is shot right in the chest. He falls
down as he clutches his chest. The group then charges into battle with the
guards. The other armadillo fights valiantly but is quickly overcome by the
guards. They knock him down and hit him with their stun rods. Sledgehammer fares
much better as he makes quick work of the guards in front of him. But even he
cannot fight off the guards for long as he is quickly captured as well. Colt
shoots a few guards as he makes his way to the door. But before he can reach it,
one of the guards hits him with a stun rod and he falls to the ground, where he
is quickly subdued. They are then dragged to Augustus Romulus' throne room.
It is like deja vu for Colt. Once again he awakens in Augustus' throne room and
finds himself a prisoner. Next to him is Sledgehammer and the other armadillo.
Augustus is smiling at them as he says "I will make sure you do not escape this
time." But before he can sentence the traitors, the whole throne room rocks from
an explosion. "What is that? Guards investigate at once." he says as he screams
out. Once he finishes the sentence, another explosion rocks the room and pieces
of the ceiling start to fall. The guards look out in fear as they see the
ceiling cracking and getting ready to cave in. They quickly run off and leave
the prisoners. Even Augustus is running off to save himself. Within seconds, the
room is empty except for the three prisoners. They look up and see they have
mere seconds before that ceiling collapses. They get up and run out, just as
another explosion rocks the room. As they run out the door, the ceiling
collapses and destroys everything in the throne room. The armadillo yells
"Follow me." and he heads down a hallway. Colt looks over and sees Augustus and
his men running down a different hall. One of the guards turns to see Colt and
shoots at him. He moves away from the shot and takes off. Augustus yells out
"Guards, kill them all at once." A few guards run from his side while the rest
escort him to safety.
The armadillo rushes around a corner and comes up to the room with the time
machine. They all stop in front of the door and Colt says "This is too easy."
The armadillo looks at him and laughs "Easy? You haven't met the Eliminator
yet." They then open the door only to find more guards. There are four guards in
the room and they shoot at the moment they enter. Sledgehammer uses his hammers
to deflect some of the shots, but the other armadillo gets hit in the shoulder
with a blast and falls down. Colt immediately shoots and takes out two of the
guards quickly. Sledgehammer charges the other two and with two well placed
hits, he knocks them both out. He then motions for Colt to go to the machine. He
first picks up the armadillo and says "I need you to work this contraption." The
armadillo slowly gets up and with Colt's help, walks over and starts turning on
the machine. As he does this, Sledgehammer goes over and guards the door. He
turns a few knobs and the machine turns on. Within seconds, a beam of light
shines onto a spot. The armadillo says "Just go into that light and you will be
transported home." As soon as he finishes talking, the door is blown open and
Sledgehammer is knocked over. Colt looks over and sees a bunch of guards. The
armadillo yells to Colt "Quick into the light." Colt jumps over as the guards
start shooting at him. As he jumps into the light, the other armadillo is hit
numerous times and falls dead. They rush into the room and see Sledgehammer
crawling towards the machine. They shoot him numerous times and he falls dead.
Then an explosion hits and the ceiling caves him, right on the machine and the
guards.
Inside the light, Colt is rolling around as he travels through time. After a few
seconds, he is dumped onto the ground in the city where he left. But the city he
left was full of people and this one is dead silent. He pulls himself from the
ground and dusts himself off. He is still a little wobbly from the effects of
the time travel but he is pretty certain that he is in the right time. He feels
for his guns only to find he does not have any shooting irons on him. Not having
his guns makes him feel naked and very vulnerable. As he looks around the town,
he heads over to the saloon. As he walks into the saloon, he notices that it is
also empty. He walks slowly up to the bar and looks behind the counter. No
bartender in sight. But he does see something he can use. There is a holster and
a pair of pistols. He picks it up and puts it on. A little big on him, but when
he takes it to the final notch, it barely fits. He pulls out the pistols and
examines them. They are not as nice as his shooting irons were, but considering
the situation, he cannot be choosy. He then grabs a bottle and pours himself a
drink. After all he has been through, he deserves it. The glass is half full as
he holds it up and examines it. He thinks to himself about how is he going to
stop the Eliminator. Or even worse, how is he going to find him? Menek says he
looks just like a man, so it is going to be hard to pick him out. But right now
he downs the drink and makes a face as it burns going down. He figures he will
have to look around the town and see if he can find any supplies to help him.
As the Eliminator is searching for Peggy Sue, he gets a strange feeling.
Suddenly his computers let him know that a second humanoid armadillo has been
found. He stops his search in the hills for Peggy Sue and turns around and
starts walking down the hill. He has been searching in vain for her in these
hills but could not find her. The computer tells him that she is right there,
but he does not see her. What he does not know is she burrowed underground and
the computer did not tell him that. It only gave him an area and while it was
correct, he did not know he was standing over her. But now that he has found
another armadillo life form, he will go kill that one. He can always come back
later and try to find the other one.
At the bar, Colt is sitting there thinking when he hears someone come through
the swinging doors of the saloon. He turns and draws his gun when he sees it is
an older man with his hands raised. "Don't mean no harm." he says as he slowly
walks in with his hands raised. Colt stands up and puts his gun back in its
holster. "Whatcha doing here old timer?" he says to the man. "I just came down
from the hills to see if everything was safe." he says in an anxious voice.
"Safe from what?" Colt asks. "Why the strange feller who has been killing
everyone that gets in his way." the man says "Why don't someone gun him down?"
Colt asks, getting a strange feeling this is the same man he is looking for. "We
tried that, but he is bullet proof." the man says as he gets more excited. "So
everyone left town when word came that he was headed this way." he adds as he
now moves over to the bar and pours himself a shot. He drinks it down quickly
and begins to pour another shot. Colt then asks "What does this feller look like
who is bullet proof?" The man drinks down his second shot and then answers "He
is tall and real strong. He wears dark glasses that hide his eyes. He has short,
black hair and a mean look upon his mug." Colt mumbles to himself "That's the
Eliminator." Then Colt asks the man "Any idea where he was headed?" The man is
pouring his third shot when he says "Heard he was headed East, so if I was you,
I would head West." Colt thinks for a second and says "Wonder if dynamite would
stop him? Do you have any idea where we could get some dynamite?" The man smiles
and says "I have some up by my mine. Think it will stop him?" Colt looks at him
and says "Don't know but we gotta try."
Later that day, the two of them are at his mine. It is a small mine with an oar
car and some rails for the car to travel down. Next to the mine is a small shed.
The man walks over to the shed and pulls out a key to unlock the door. When he
opens it, there is a collection of tools, from shovels and picks to dynamite and
gunpowder. Colt grabs all the sticks of dynamite that are on the shelf, six
total, and smiles. "We will blow this Eliminator to pieces." he says as he holds
up the dynamite and smiles. The old man begins to laugh as well.
As the Eliminator leaves, Peggy Sue comes out of hiding. She slowly climbs up
through the hole she dug and looks around. She sees the Eliminator in the
distance walking away. At first she is relieved that he is finally leaving. But
for some unexplained reason, she gets a strange feeling. Why did he give up
looking for her? And where is he off to in such a hurry? This does not add up.
She wonders why he was after her in the first place. Was it because she was
different or was there another reason. Then she thought that if it was because
she was different, then he may be after all armadillos. That would mean he would
be headed after Colt. She thought about what happened to Colt. She did not see
him disappear, only heard about it. What would make a person just disappear. Was
he back? If he was, he would not know about the Eliminator and would have no
chance. She had to go to warn him, if he was back. But where could he be and how
was she to avoid the Eliminator. She sat and thought about what was the best
plan of action. If he disappeared from the previous town, maybe he showed back
up there. That was the direction the Eliminator was headed. But how could she
get there before him. Then it hit her, Colt's donkey, Algebra, was still in
town. The Carnival man grabbed him to use to carry stuff. He would be in town
with the other horses, still tied up and waiting for their masters to return.
The masters who were now dead. Everyone was in such a hurry to leave, they left
behind any horse that wasn't their own. She would go back to town after the
Eliminator left and get Algebra and go warn Colt.
Back at the mine, Colt and the old man prepared for the Eliminator. Colt had
built a fire so they would have something to light the dynamite with. He also
had a pick axe ready and his shooting irons loaded and ready to go. The old man
had a shotgun and a shovel. They looked in the distance and could see someone
coming. The person was on a horse and they were in a hurry. A cloud of dust
followed them as they went into the town. After a few minutes, they saw the fire
and headed up towards the mine. Colt also built the fire to attract attention.
As the person got closer, Colt pulled out his gun and prepared for the worst. He
aimed his pistol as did the old man with his shotgun. Once the person got
closer, Colt saw that it was not a horse but instead his donkey, Algebra. And it
was not just anyone riding him, it was Peggy Sue! He put his gun back in his
holster and ran to her. She brought Algebra to a halt as she jumped from the
donkey. The two of them hugged. The old man just smiled. She then looked at him
and said "There is a man coming this way to kill you." Colt tried to reassure
her "I know, he is the Eliminator and we are ready for him." She looked at him
with a puzzled look on her face "The Eliminator? How do you know his name?" Colt
tried to put on a brave face as he said "It is a long story, but he is here to
kill both of us. He is not human, he is a machine." The old man jumped in "A
machine? Who ever heard of a human machine?" Colt looks over at him "He is from
the future and he came to put an end to the armadillo race." Peggy Sue has a
shocked look on her face.
While they are talking, the Eliminator appears on the horizon. They see him
slowly moving towards them. The old man notices him first "Well, this is it.
Let's hope we can stop him." Peggy Sue looks scared as she says "Bullets don't
stop him. He is unbeatable." Colt smiles as he reaches in his vest and pulls out
a few sticks of dynamite "I know but maybe this will stop him." Peggy Sue looks
shocked "You think dynamite will stop him?" Colt smiles "Never met a critter
that could survive a few sticks of dynamite." The Eliminator is now closer. Colt
looks over at Peggy Sue and says "Let's hope we survive this." She gives him a
smile as she moves behind them. Colt then aims his gun at the Eliminator and
shoots. He lets out four bullets that all bounce off him. While he knows that
bullets cannot harm him, he has to find out for himself. The old man also shoots
him with his shotgun with similar results. Colt looks over at the old man and
says "Time to blow him away." They both take a stick of dynamite and light it
with the a torch they have near the fire. Colt looks at him and says "One - Two
- Three - Throw!" In unison, they both throw their sticks of dynamite. They land
a few feet in front of the Eliminator and roll. Within seconds, the explode,
right when the Eliminator is walking over them. There is a huge explosion and
dirt flies everywhere. The area is full of dust and smoke and too thick to see
anything. Colt looks over at the two of them and smiles. Then the old man gives
him a worried look. Colt looks back over and sees something coming out of the
smoke. His eyes grow big with shock as he sees what looks like a robotic human
emerge. The dynamite has melted off most of the human looking outer skin to
reveal the robotic body. This makes him look even scarier than before. The old
man says "Anymore bright ideas?" Colt thinks for a second and asks "How deep is
this mine?" The man looks at him and says "At least a few hundred feet deep,
why?" Colt then says "He is after us so let me lure him into the mine. Then I
want you to throw the dynamite down the mine and bury him." The man looks at him
and says "What about you?" Colt smiles at him and says "I have a few tricks up
my sleeve. Now get Peggy Sue out of here while I lure him down the mine." The
man and Peggy Sue run off while Colt throws another stick of dynamite at the
Eliminator. While he is distracted by the dynamite, Colt runs over towards the
mine and gets into the cart. The Eliminator sees him and heads towards the cart.
When he gets near, Colt pulls out the stick that is keeping it from rolling down
and he begins to roll into the mine. The Eliminator grabs hold of the mine but
is pulled down as it rolls down the mine. The momentum pulls them down and drags
the Eliminator. The cart keeps going deeper and deeper in the mine as the
Eliminator tries to pull himself up. After a minute, it hits the bottom and runs
into a wall, throwing the Eliminator into the wall. Colt has rolled into a ball,
so he handles the shock well. He unrolls himself as he sees the Eliminator
slowly get up. His eyes are glowing red as he scans for Colt. He then sees him
with his thermal sensors and picks up the mine cart and prepares to throw it at
Colt. Suddenly there is a loud explosion and the sound of falling rock catches
the Eliminator's attention. He looks up the mine shaft as Colt begins to burrow
into the wall. He keeps looking up as thousands of pounds of rock come pouring
down the mine. The rocks come down with such a force that they smash him into
the wall and crush him. The rocks keep coming down until the entire mine is
filled. Colt is furiously digging his way up towards the top, not looking back.
When he gets to the top, Peggy Sue sees him and rushes over to help pull him
out. The man also runs over and says "It worked!" Colt brushes himself off and
walks over and looks at the mine, which is now completely filled in. Colt then
grabs Peggy Sue and gives her a big kiss. Then they all walk back to town. The
sun is now setting.
Back in the mine, the hand of the Eliminator lays there buried in rock. Slowly,
it begins to move. It moves back and forth as it tries to free itself.
The End.
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